Vestcor Inc Acquires 1,122 Shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX)

Vestcor Inc raised its stake in shares of Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,846 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Equinix were worth $16,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQIX. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in shares of Equinix in the 1st quarter worth about $4,633,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Equinix in the 1st quarter worth about $550,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equinix by 86.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,448 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,627,000 after buying an additional 2,067 shares during the last quarter. Brio Consultants LLC bought a new position in shares of Equinix in the 1st quarter worth about $522,000. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Equinix by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 317 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EQIX. New Street Research upgraded shares of Equinix to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,035.00 to $950.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Equinix from $1,050.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Equinix from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Equinix from $1,030.00 to $965.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $957.27.

Equinix Stock Down 1.7%

NASDAQ EQIX traded down $13.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $771.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 500,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 565,603. Equinix, Inc. has a 1-year low of $701.41 and a 1-year high of $994.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.49 billion, a PE ratio of 75.59, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $831.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $853.72.

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $9.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $6.42. Equinix had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.22%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.22 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Equinix, Inc. will post 33.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equinix Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $4.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $18.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Equinix's payout ratio is 183.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Christopher B. Paisley sold 100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $869.41, for a total transaction of $86,941.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 17,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,274,664.29. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adaire Fox-Martin sold 2,949 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $884.91, for a total transaction of $2,609,599.59. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,615 shares in the company, valued at $8,508,409.65. This trade represents a 23.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,176 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,008. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Equinix

Equinix Nasdaq: EQIX is the world's digital infrastructure company . Digital leaders harness Equinix's trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. Equinix enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.